I appreciate your response, and not to seem ignorant, but I'm going to press you for further detail, if you don't mind. When you say the UPD01005 file, to me that's the entire folder on my desktop (the result of downloading the update from BMW) that includes the aforementioned .xml file and .bin files (1 and 4 of each, respectively). I've already tried placing this entire folder on the USB drive and initiating the "update software" option via iDrive with the USB drive in the center console. All that I receive is an instant "No USB with Software detected in Music Input...yada yada yada" message.

Rather, am I suppose to take the actual "SWUP_00000B98_003_005_005.bin" file (as I'm currently on Media version 3.5.4) and place that on the USB drive alone?

I'm sorry to ask what may sound like such mundane questions, but I feel that I've tried loading my USB with so many different combination of these files only to keep getting the above message that no files are being seen.

Thanks so much!

You're doing it wrong.... sounds like you are mounting the file UPD01005.bin which is why it's showing up as a folder. Just copy the single file UPD01005.bin to the USB drive. ConnectedDrive is smart enough to look inside that file and depending on what ver. you have update accordingly.